Soldier Boy
by Gothika Angel01
Summary: After the fall of the Destroyer, and the resurrection of Mankind, The Horsemen of the Apocalypse receive word from the counsel that there is yet another conspirator attempting to reek havoc upon the Three Kingdoms. As the four Nephilim set out and expectand uncover the identity of this conspirator, they find something much more strange...
1. Awakened

The Well of Souls. A supernatural gate guarded by the Archangel, Azrael. The souls of the dead are channeled there and none leave without Azrael's knowledge.

Until now.

Normally, Azrael is ever present and aware of all activity within the well, but he has taken a leave of absence. Nobody really knows why he left, or where he went, but when news dawned upon the Pillar of Chaos, she couldn't help herself but invade. She managed to sneak through the gates of the well, and, without plummeting completely into the well, pulled two souls from its depths. She ensured that both were from the Kingdom of Man, for those were her orders. She also ensured that these souls would be released close together, for it would be difficult for one to survive without the other. These souls, however, were very different from the rest of mankind. Each soul had a different perfume, or light about them that made them special in her eyes. The first one she found glowed white. Rather strange, since most souls were of a luminescent blue shade. The last one found made her very happy. This soul glowed a bright red, burning like fire. She selected this and smiled contently at the soul.

"I'm going to give you a nice, new home my little firebird." The Pillar of Chaos spoke, tucking the souls away and departing out of the well's gates.

After The Destroyer was killed, and the seeds of Man were re-sown since the premature Apocalypse, the Kingdom of Hell was outraged at Heaven for attempting to frame them of inciting the End War. So with that, one of Lucifer's mightiest and most cunning lieutenants brought forth a terrible curse upon the kingdom of man, not by the Dark One's orders, but simply by her own rage. However, the hell-spawn's ambitions were not without, "a small chink in the armour."

"Ow, damnnit…"

A girl sat against a heap of rubble in the town plaza of New York City. Or, what used to be New York City. She knew something was up. She'd thought about it during their first few hours alive. This child, a girl who declared herself to be called Scout, was certain that she had died in the living horror movie Scout found herself awakened in one faithful day. Just out of the blue, all the monsters you can imagine and then some rose up from the earth and raged battle against what seemed to be angels. Mothers and fathers tell their children not to fear monsters, for they do not exist. That's a bold face lie. This girl knew that now, but there were still many things not even the adults knew. She remembered all that happened, but couldn't piece these events together. She was sure that all of those horrific events had ended her petty existence.

But she was here. Alive and well.

Scout was an odd girl. She'd only been breathing for about sixteen years, yet she walked with a sense of pride that an arrogant soldier would have, making most people sneer and blow her off as some over-confident teen who's ego needed a bit of tweaking. That she didn't really didn't have a clue, but in all actuality, she was just as smart as the next punk-ass kid on the streets. You can go pretty far with book smarts, but without street smarts, you wouldn't last a heartbeat.

You'd think she was a boy with her attitude. She was very candid, mostly a smart-ass. She hated whining, complaining, gossip, all that stuff. Scout was the kind of girl who, if approached by a figure of authority, would try to undermine every ounce of authority he or she felt they had. She was a tough girl; your average run-of-the-mill tomboy. She even preferred to be addressed as a "he" or "boy." Nothing scared her.

Except this. Being all alone in a town torn asunder by monsters that she felt might still linger in the area.

As of now, Scout was picking bits and pieces of glass out of her left leg, seeming to also be littered with gravel and rocks. She must've fallen, or something. From the kneecap down, she was covered in blood and scrapes, cuts and bruises. It'd hurt, but that didn't stop her. It'd get infected then. She'd thought about just washing it off in a puddle, but that wouldn't be smart either.

"There has to be something around here to take care of this…" Scout said to herself, examining her surroundings.

It didn't look like there would've been anything. Or anyone. The place she had found herself in seemed completely void of any life whatsoever, she was certain she wouldn't find anything here. So, she decided to move on, ripping part of her shirt off from the seam on the upper left side and wrapping her leg up as best as she could. She then skimmed around the gas station. There was probably some peroxide inside, or so she thought. But she went on inside to look anyway.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing inside.

"Son of a bitch…"

There was nothing there but rubble, dried up blood, and what looked like shotgun shells littered across the floor. Scout shoved past some rusty old shelves and kicked around some bricks and glass. She looked around some, soon humming contently at what she found. A small hatch in the floor. This was a family operated gas station, so those were common. She reached down to open it; thank God it wasn't locked, and was met with the crack and clatter of wooden steps being suspended from the hatch's side down to the floor. She gently placed a foot on the first step, getting a loud creaking sound, but the step didn't cave in. She slowly descended into the basement area and, with only the light from the hole she had crawled out of, she found some things she may find useful.

A army-tagged duffle bag that was filled up to the top with first-aid supplies. Upon this revelation, Scout immediately began pouring peroxide onto her leg and wrapping herself in gauze. She then tried her dammnedest to stuff any other thing she could make use of into the bag, and made her way up to the ladder to depart.

Scout had made a pretty good find at the gas station. The people who owned the joint must've been preparing for the end of the world or something. Then again, that's what everything around her looked like. Everything was in ruins. Just about dead, destroyed, totaled, or worse. Buildings had been rendered to nothing but heaping piles of rubble as far as the eye could see, the normally busy and crowded streets of New York Scout once knew were completely void of any life, and everywhere she went, she was met by the stench of burned rubber, and something that smelled like straight up death, mixed with the lonely whistle of the mid-summer winds.

It broke her heart. Everything she ever knew was destroyed, for later that same day, she had followed the streets back to her home on the outskirts of town, only to find a burnt down, beaten up remnant of bricks and glass shards where her foster home used to stand.

She stepped inside cautiously, walking through the hulking hole where the front door would've been, taking a brief look around.

Nobody.

There was absolutely nothing. No pictures, no furniture, not even a piece of carpet or tile from the floor.

"A-April?" Scout would whisper, hoping she might receive a response, if not from her foster mom, but from someone for God's sake.

"Jack? Ronald? Connor? D-Daniel?" she called her foster brothers off one by one.

No one.

She didn't need bones or blood or fragments of a dead body to know that her family was dead and gone. She mourned for the longest time, wishing she could go upstairs and climb into her room, leap into her bed, burry herself in her blankets and cry until she fell asleep. Her room was gone though. And more importantly, so were the stairs.

She didn't like to cry, so she got angry. No gloves though. She stormed out of that pile of dirt and bricks and began furiously punching the first tree she saw. She had this tantrum for a while, but when her knuckles grew red and bloody, her body told her it was time to stop. Scout had anger issues. This was as apparent as the sun in the sky. She wished she hadn't done that, but since she had a first-aid kit, she guessed it was all good.

She wandered around town for a number of hours, but when it grew dark, she knew she had to stop and sleep somewhere. She camped out for the night on what she thought was a public bench, tucked underneath what felt like a truck or something. It was too dark for her to see what it really was, but she didn't feel like walking around any longer, so she stayed put. There were no street lights either, and she didn't really like the idea of going out on the town in the pitch black night.

The following day, scout woke up to the sound of a phone ringing. For sure, she could never mistake that sound; the classic, unmistakable "ring, ring" that had always gotten everyone's attention, especially in times like this. (not that Scout had ever been in this situation before.)

She'd nearly fallen flat on her face in the concrete at such an alarm, yet when she found the source of the sound, she regained her composure. It was a payphone on the other side of the street. No cars or crowds. Scout made it over there in a hurry, running like a bat out'ta hell to get to it in time. The thought of hearing another person's voice made her so happy, she wanted to cry. She quickly picked up the phone and answered.

"Hello?" She attempted to sound as if she hadn't ran like hell.

"Phoenix?" A female voice answered back.

Scout didn't know this voice, although the musical, gregarious, and sweet tone of it gave some solace.

But, how'd this chick know her name?

"Can I ask who I'm speakin' to?" Scout asked as politely as she could.

"My name is Eris. I'm a friend."  
"Excuse me?"

"I'm the reason you're here Phoenix Ann Marie." Eris said.

Scout was officially weirded out now. She had no clue who this "Eris" chick was, or how she knew her, and apparently, where to reach her.

"Wait, what?"  
"Look around Scout. What do you see?"

Scout now felt as if she was being toyed with.

"What do I see? NOTHING! There's nothing! Everything's gone!"

"Okay, now, what do you remember?"  
"Huh?"  
"From before you woke up. What do you remember?"

Scout thought for a moment. She didn't want to recall on the horrific memories of being perused by hordes of monsters, terrified for her life and the lives of her family.

She suddenly felt sick.

"Nothin'…" Scout lied.

There was a silence, and Scout didn't like it all too much.

"Still there?"

"I suggest you run away." Eris said at last before hanging up.

Run away? What the hell? It took her a minute, but when Scout looked down the streets to see the shapes of what can only be described to her as half-eaten, emaciated people walking sluggishly toward her. They looked like something Scout would've seen in a zombie movie.

Zombie movie? Oh crap…

When at last the flip in the poor kid's head switched on to the realization, she ran across the street, picked up her bag and ran away as fast as she could

She sprinted for a good eight minutes before stopping in front of yet another destroyed building. Scout was entirely out of breath and she was trembling like one of those ugly purse dogs. Her brain was a mess. Were those really zombies? Is this like, the end of the world? Is this a nightmare? Am I still dead? What's going on?-

The payphone a few feet away began to ring.

Scout stared at the phone intensley. After a short period of observation, she realized there were no wires or anything hooked up to the payphone, as she remembered them to have been. There was no way this thing could've possibly be taking calls. Nevertheless, she stepped over, hesitant to pick it up and answer it.

"Hello?" she answered softly.

"Good, you outran them! A'ta girl! Scout!"

It was Eris.

"Look lady, I wanna know who the hell you are-"

"I told you silly goose, I'm Eris." She bantered, really pissing Scout off.

"Yeah, I got that. I mean where are you? How do you know me? What is going on here?"

Scout was furious. She did this when she got sad or scared a lot of times. Rather than confessing to her fears or depression, she got angry. Her pride wouldn't allow herself to collapse onto her knees and hide herself.

"You're a mighty curious kid, huh Scout?" Eris asked, her voice dripping with mischief.

"I've got damn reasons to be!" she shouted into the phone. "I was just chased by zombies! ZOMBIES!"

"Oh come on drama queen, they weren't chasing you; you just saw 'em and ran like a little sissy." Eris scoffed.

Scout grinded her teeth together. Those were the fight words. She could take being called anything else, but "sissy" and "girly" and "scardey" weren't her forte.

"QUIT FUCKIN' WITH MY HEAD LADY, OR I'LL-"

"You'll what Scout?" Eris teased.

Scout opened her mouth, as if to give a smart-ass comment in reply, but instead gave herself a few moments to cool herself down a bit first.

"Okay, what's happened to everybody?" Scout began once she had collected herself. "Why is the city so empty?"  
Eris laughed, making her even more uncomfortable.

"They're all dead. Or, as of now, undead." She replied.

Shocked and disturbed by this revelation, Scout huffed and proceeded to question this mysterious woman.

"Dead? All of New York?"  
"Almost. I think there's one more still running around… they won't last long though… that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about, you have to find the other one and protect her..." Eris interrupted.

Scout didn't believe what she was hearing.

"No. This has to be some kind of trick-"  
"Not a trick dear."

Scout was silent for about several seconds.

"How?"  
"What now?"  
"How could everyone on earth just up-an' die?" she heartily asked.

"You won' believe me if I told you." Eris chuckled.

Scout felt a gut-wrenching sensation in the pit of her stomach. She looked around, not seeing any more zombies or anything. Just a few crows and some trash floating about.

"Have you read Revelations dear?"

Eris asked sweetly when she next spoke.

"What? You mean "The Bible" Revelations? Hell naw, I don' believe in God…" she huffed.

"You don't?" Eris asked, her interest in the child must've peaked a bit. "Then what do you believe?"

"I believe that if I can see it and touch it, it's real." She scoffed lowly.

"Well, it's true baby. All of it. Only, that's not completely what happened on earth."  
"Wudda you mean?"

"Well-" Eris took a breath. "Once upon a time, three omniscient beings known as the charred counsel were left in charge by the Creator, or as you call him, God. The Charred Counsel hand-picked four individuals from an ancient race known as the Nephilim to serve them in exchange for unlimited power, those four beings being the Four Horsemen: Death, Strife, Fury, and War. These four little monsters were left in charge of preserving the balance by enforcing a shaky truce made between Heaven and Hell so mankind, that's you guys, could grow and thrive."

Scout deadpanned at this new information. Raising a silver brow and snorting insolently through the phone.

"Then one faithful day, about 100 years or so ago, the armies of Heaven and Hell fought the End War on earth due to six of the seven seals being prematurely broken. When all seven seals are broken, the Four Horsemen will ride forth, restoring the balance- blah, blah, blah. One goofy Horseman however, decided he could ride early, and, without his brothers, realized her was wrongly called to the Kingdom of Man."

There was a long silence.

"_What the fuck is this bitch's deal…"_

"Was that too much for you dear?" Eris asked sarcastically.

Scout said nothing. She just hung up the phone and stood there for about eleven seconds, ramrod straight, fists clenched, and face dark with anger. She then grasped the phone, pulling at it with all her might, and eventually pulling it clean off the handset, snapping the wire in two.

"Goddamn apocalypse- hmph!" She growled, soon making her way down Lincoln toward the 60.

She walked on to where the old library once stood, one of her many hangouts. It made her remember all of the times she had spent there. It made her even angrier now., and the fact that everything she knew was destroyed didn't help the matter.

It pissed her off. And with some crazy lady telling her all this crap about a premature apocalypse, and Four friggin' Horsemen…

She wanted to kick someone.

Eris must've really loved to screw around with this kid. After walking a good four miles throughout the city, she was stopped by what Scout could describe as little orange "flags" made from what looked like old rags that had been tied to the outside of particular landmarks. The recent "orange stop", as she called them, was at what she realized was the children's hospital on Southwest Main. She was surprised it was still standing. Inside the ruined building, she found some medical supplies, bottles of water, and some apples all laid out for her. At first, she was stupified as to how these items had gotten there when there was nobody else around. But when she spotted a small note with all of the strange gifts, she knew that they were from this "Eris" character.

_I trust that these things will come in handy. Now get out of here and head utown… dummy._

_Love, Eris_

Scout officially wanted to kill this bitch. Nevertheless, she did as she was directed, not knowing of anything else to do. She left that hospital building and headed uptown.

It was just as bad as the rest of the city, but Scout had a strange feeling that Eris wouldn't have sent her here for no reason.

Unless she was just that much of a bitch.

"HELLOOOOOO?~" her voice echoed.

There was a moment of silence, and Scout was thinking about turning back, but when she heard an earth shattering war cry from way down the street, it grabbed her full attention and forced her to turn back around.

She didn't really like what she saw though.

Her eyes were met by the form of a hideous monstrosity with huge yellow teeth, spiny skin, huge, sunk in, glowing yellow eyes, and it seemed to be adorned in chains. It was by far, the ugliest and most horrifying thing Scout had ever laid her eyes on.

She tried to digest it's appearance s best as she could, but rather than doing what she _knew_ she had to do and run away, her innermost thoughts poured out instead.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" she shouted, grabbing the monster's attention.

Bad move kid.

That huge thing started hurdling right for her. She knew she had to run, but that thing was so big and so terrifiying, she couldn't move. She couldn't scream, or anything. She just stood there. Her legs were unresponcive, her heart raced, her breaths became shallow and quick, and her soft, almond-shaped eyes were wide with an untold terror.

She just impotently stood there, preparing herself for the worst.

"_Halt beast!"_

SHOCKED, Scout turned around to see who, or what the voice came from. It was a woman. Definitely a woman. Her voice was strong and malice; mature and powerful. But what really caught the small human's attention was the fact that this particular woman was flying… with huge, sterling silver looking wings.

Fucking. Flying.

She wore what looked like powered armor and she glowed like a torch. She carried a huge sword that looked almost like a big-ass, glowing gun, and she dove for the creature. It swung its massive hands in the air in an attempt to try and catch her mid-stride, but she was quicker than it was. She shoved her blade into the creature's mouth and it roared up at her, a deafening cry of pain. She stretched her wings wide as she ripped the blade clean out of its head, huge pools and streams of blood following in its wake. The monster soon toppled over, deader than a doorknob.

Scout watched this battle silently, her face was frozed in a stupidly shocked expression.

"_An angel just killed that big-ass… thing… I'm friggin' crazy…"_

That was about all Scout could really think at this point.

The angel soon descended from the sky and turned to face Scout, looking a bit shocked. The human could now get a better look at her. Her skin was dark, almost mahogany, her eyes were a bright, glowing yellow, her figure was evenly curved, and the long, red hair framed her face almost perfectly.

She was pretty.

"Human?" the angel spoke, wrestling Scout from her brief period of admiration.

Her voice was different now. More soft and youthful. Probably since she didn't have to yell now.

Scout turned her head in all directions for a moment. She didn't say anything; she couldn't think of what to say without looking stupid.

"What?"

The angel pinched her lips together and brought her blade to her side, stepping towards Scout, who instinctively took a few steps back.

"You're human? Aren't you?" She asked again.

Still quiet, Scout simply nodded slowly.

The angel brought her free hand to her neck and let out a breath of frustration. She then observed the child in silence for about several seconds.

"What is your name child?" She asked at last.

"S-Scout." She replied after a brief period of blankness.

By sheer habit, she bravely extended her left hand. The angel was hesitant, but accepted the kind gesture nonetheless. She had a strong grip.

"Olivia." The angel said.

Scout let go and fell back a bit. Olivia seemed to be a rather fitting name.

"How are you here?" she asked.

Scout just shrugged.

"I dunno. I just woke up here."

"When, just now?"  
"Nome, early yesterday mornin' I think."

Olivia nodded, pacing around the human and observing her further. She wasn't sure just what it was about her, but this human was somewhat familiar to her. The way the angel was staring at her made Scout a bit nervous. She was already creeped out that an angel talking to her after killing a huge, ugly-as-fuck monster. Scout just wanted to walk away, and as she did so, she was stopped.

"You mean to tell me you just 'woke up' here, and expect me to believe that?!" Olivia snapped, making Scout jump.

"NIGGA! I'm just as confused as you are. I mean, you- you're an friggin' _angel_-"

"Well, yeah…"

Scout felt a bit sick now that everything that had just happened had caught up with her. She placed her hands on her knees and huffed on and on, catching breaths that she hadn't even lost in the first place.

"Angels. Aren't. _Real_. There's no such thing as angels, or monsters, or-or fuckin'… unicorns…" her mind was going completely blank.

"Unicorns are real-" Olivia noted. "-And I do believe that I am real as well." She paused and looked herself over. "At least I hope so…"

Scout soon looked up and into the eyes of her savior. She then laughed a bit and decided to give up all together.

"_Unicorn? Are you fucking kidding me?"_

"Look Olive," Scout started to regain her composure. "All I know is, I woke up in front of a gas station, slept on a bench, got chased by zombies, and this 'Eris' chick won't leave me the fuck alone-"  
"Eris?" Olivia sounded like she knew who this kid was talking about.

"You know her? Who is she?!" Scout asked eagerly.

Olivia brought her palm to her forehead hard, a loud slap resounding.

"I should've known…" she said quietly, almost to herself.

"Known what? Dude, I'm standing _right here_!"

"Pillar of Chaos… a very powerful entity. She must've resurrected you."  
"Huh?"  
"Eris is a Tricktser Goddess. The embodiment of chaos and mischief at it's finest; not to mention she is the offspring of Soulfson, Primordial bringer of Chaos." She explained.

"She is currently awaiting trial in the White City for the deliberate intrusion of the Well of Souls, where you were pulled from."  
Scout threw her head back and howled with laughter.

"Well of Souls! Okay, ev-everything makes sence now!" She looked as if she was loosing her mind, and Olivia could see it.

"It's a bit to much for you, isn't it?"

Scout faced her and scowled menacingly.

"Premature apocalypse? Charred Counsel? Four Horsemen? Is- am I in some kind of reinactment?" she demanded, making sure the angel could see her anger clear as day.

"Did Eris tell you of the apocalypse?" The angel asked, getting a firm huff in response.

"Well, like it or not, she wasn't lying. What else did she say to you?" Olivia inquired. She started walking away, and without really putting much thought into her actions, Scout walked alongside her.

"She said somethin' about findin' another one an' keepin' her safe…"

"Do you think there might really be another human?"  
"Prob'ly. Eris hasn't steered me wrong yet…" Scout replied.

Olivia stepped down from where the road was broken off and had collected into a steep pit in the middle of the streets. She helped Scout get get down with her without getting hurt.

"I dodn't give it much thought earlier…"  
"Hmm?" Olivia looked down on her companion as she walked.

"Eris said I'd have to find another one. Human most likley… but, protect her? Him? It? I don't think I can do that…"

Scout could tell Olivia must've liked her. She's been real helpful and nice, even though she'd just met her.

"Well, don't be so rash with your words human." Olivia rebuffed her, giving her a reassuring shove. "You look like a real fighter. I think you could hold your own for maybe a little while longer."

Scout was silent at that.

She'd walked and talked with that angel all day since she'd saved her. Whaen the human finally made to deoart, olivia said to remain in contact with Eris, for she could be her best bet at staying alive. She also said she would tell her superior that she had found a human survivor on Earth and that she may return to retrieve her.

Scout marched on for a few days all on her own. She handled herself pretty well too. She had continued to receive gifts from Eris, one in particular made her _very_ happy. A sturdy wooden bow, and a set of quivers. She was a pretty good shot, but with all the time in the world to practice now, she'd gotten even better. She was once part of a rather proud high school archery team. (it's not much, but it's a start…) and if it were up to her, she would've been the team's best marksman. Every now and then, she would come across a rogue zombie near many of her hideouts and shoot 'em down easy. She'd even killed a couple of other, more stranger looking monsters she'd found running around the city. They were different from the last monster she'd seen. Must've been a pet or somethin'.

However, being a good shot got her noticed.

In the heart of the city, another creature stirred amidst the human wreckage. It looked like a man, but the true identity of this creature was far more ancient. He was a behemoth of a man, adorned in miscellaneous armor and he carried a massive blade on his back. His eyes were a glowing pale blue, almost white, and his hair was white as snow. He looked around the hellish landscape, surveying the world with the senses of a full-fledge war hero. The way he looked about things appeared as if he's endured an eternity of conflict, and by all indications of anyone who knew who he was, that'd be true.

He is War, made flesh.

About a hundred years ago, he crash-landed in the center of one of these human cities and found that the armies of Heaven and Hell were waging war in the streets. Aboddon, one of many highly revered archangels, was leading Heaven's armies against Hell's numerous legions.

War remembered calling to the archangel, demanding to know where his brethren were, but Aboddon was shocked to see the Horseman on earth.

"No!-" Abaddon exclaimed."- the Seventh Seal was not broken!"

At that distraction, the archangel was grabbed by the demon commander Stragga as he emerged from the ground.

War's train of thought was interrupted when he happened to take notice of multiple demons and zombies that had been killed by something other than an angelic weapon. Or at least, any angelic weapon War had ever seen. As he examined the corpses further, he surmised that they were either inflicted by a small knife, or arrows. The knife was eliminated as an option immediately however, for a knife that small wouldn't kill a demon like this. He observed the wounds further, finding that they were, in fact, arrows. Shot from a distant range. Intrigued by this, War decided to himself that he should keep on the lookout for whoever wielded these arrows. Either angel or demon, he thought the marksmanship of this creature was rather impressive… even for him.

Right in the eye, every time.


	2. The Kids Aren't Alright

Scout ran madly from her pursuer, terrified for her life. She continued on her way through the winding streets, the Metropolis of wreckage and destruction. She'd hit a dead end a few minutes into the chase, unable to go anywhere.

_"Well, fuck… this is just great…"_

If she turned back now, he'd get her. If she didn't do something, he'd get her. She was feeling pretty screwed at this point. A huge wall of rubble and bricks stood between her, and another chance at survival. Or better yet, a chance to get away from _him._

She tried to climb up the wall with every fiber she had, every ounce of strength she possessed. But as laudable as her efforts were, it was no use. There wasn't anything stable enough for her to grab on to to be able to pull herself up and over to safety. She was about to give up, until she heard the faint "clink, clink" of his armored footsteps grow louder and louder.

Scout looked over her shoulder and gasped quietly, seeing that he was in fact _right behind her._ He was getting a little too close for comfort, and the look on his face scared her even more. It was a cold, angry glare, but his glowing blue eyes seemed to hold the wrath of a thousand angry entities. She could feel it. He drew his huge blade, why he wanted to harm her, she didn't know. All she wanted now was to get the hell out of there, or for him to just go away.

She unwillingly turned and faced the monster of a man, and started at him dead in the eyes as he drew closer. His eyes were like thin, murderous slits, terrifying the human child even more. He was only a few feet away from her now. She fell to her knees and covered her head with her hands, tucking her knees into her chest and squeezing her eyes shut. She wished that there was something, anything to keep him from killing her. Or some way to escape.

But someone was watching.

Just as War reached down to grab the child by her skull, some invisible force threw him away, sending him reeling across the streets. Scout heard him crash a little bit away and decided to make a run for it. However, she realized that the short, dusty brown denim skirt she wore was snagged on a piece of metal.

_"Fuckfuckfuckfuck- ain't nobody got time for dis shit!"_

She wrestled off her pink rubber boots and tore herself out of her skirt, only to look over and see that he was coming at her again, only angrier. She ran like crazy, shouting and cursing tenaciously as she did so. She spotted a small crawl-space between a city bus, and the remains of what she thought was Town Hall. She shoved herself inside, although the space wasn't wide enough for her to turn around. She could look over her shoulder though.

He wasn't there. Nor did she hear his footsteps anymore.

_"Must've finally lost him…"_ Scout thought, giving a relieved and exhausted sigh.

Finally, that huge-ass, crazy guy was gone. She found some solace in her triumph over the deranged angry guy. It was short-lived however. A rogue gauntlet suddenly grabbed her left ankle and tried pulling her from the crawl space. Scout screamed like a little girl, struggling to break free of his grasp. She squirmed, kicked, sprawled and fought as hard as she could, but he wasn't letting her go anytime soon. It was getting rather difficult to kick him away too, since she did everything better with her left. After a couple of well-aimed tries, she'd finally hit home, kicking him square in the chin and causing him to drop her and fall back a bit. He snarled angrily and went to draw his sword once more, but Scout, taking advantage of their surroundings, shoved him back, causing him to trip over a fallen telephone pole and land on his back with a loud "THUD!"

Before he could've done anything else, Scout was up and away, running as fast as her legs could carry her. She ran until her legs heaved and her lungs burned. Running until she arrived in one of the darkest places in the city, a place she'd only been to once in her life.

The Highlands.

Based on her "hood" knowledge, this was uptown Manhattan. Where all the rich people lived. The best hospitals, schools, stores, and pretty much everything else could only be found here. These were some pretty swanky digs.

She'd broken into one of the Uptown houses before, when she was about nine-and-a half. The house belonged to an old deaf woman, based on her foster father's account. She'd pulled off this heist with her foster parents. (third pair at the time.) but after the police showed up, which must've been because someone had seen an unfamiliar group of people break into an old, deaf woman's house and called them, they only saw two adults loading miscellaneous boxes of china, silver, and electronics into the truck of their pitch black GTO, with little Scout asleep in the backseat.

Scout surveyed the narrow streets of the Highlands as she passed through. It looked just as bad as the rest of the city. Some of the buildings weren't as bad as the places she'd seen so far however. They still looked almost habitatual. She didn't go inside any of them however. This human was scared out of her mind. Who was that guy? Why'd he try to snatch her up? What'd he want? Scout's mind flooded with questions, as well as anxieties. And with a still-developing teenage imagination, fear was hard at work in almost every way.

Her unpleasant thought were interrupted by the faintest sounds of humming. Like a child playing.

_"Great, now I'm hearing shit…"_

Deciding to ignore the sounds, she continued on deeper into the city. However, the humming grew louder and clearer with every step. It was eerie. Why would a child be humming like that, even if there was another human around? It wasn't normal.

Scout rounded the corner of a half-standing apartment complex and saw something that made her heart stop and her blood run cold. She stared at the middle of the street in both awe and utter shock.

It was a little girl. Sitting and humming happily, plucking the feathers off of a dead angel's wing. She looked as if there was nothing wrong with her; like she was okay with being in a huge city all alone and with the possibility that a monster could show up and eat her up in a heartbeat. Scout didn't feel the need to hide herself, so she quietly and carefully approached the child.

"H-hey kid-"

Without warning, the child turned and threw a large shard of glass right at Scout, and if she hadn't have moved when she did, it would've stabbed her clean in the gut. Scout fell back, and alerted to the child that she was no harm to her. This kid knew what the fuck. The child ducked behind a car and peeked out every now and then to look out at the other human.

"Hey! It's okay!" Scout called reassuringly. "My name's Scout." She made an attempt to try and bring the child out of hiding.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm no monster, I promise!" Scout laughed.

Nothing.

Scout was about to speak again, but was silenced by the sounds of approaching demons a few blocks away. She could never mistake those sounds. She called to the child once more, telling her that demons were coming , and eventually convinced her to come out of hiding and follow her to safety. The child did as she was told and ended up jumping right into Scout's arms, who started sprinting away as quickly as she could. She wished she'd brought her bow, but she had left everything she was carrying back in the downtown plaza… where that one freaky guy was.

Scout couldn't run very fast while holding onto the small human, so she'd set her down and stopped for a few seconds to catch her breath.

"Alright, c'mon kid!" She demanded, taking hold of the child's tiny hand tightly.

The two escaped the Highlands and stopped at a destroyed building to rest. The place Scout had found must've been a parlor, or a board room once. It looked long enough, and there was still some bits and pieces of evidence that there were books or files kept there. It was the only area of the building that hadn't already succumbed to the years or erosion and natural disasters.

"You okay kid?" Scout asked, taking a seat on the far wall out of the sunlight.

The child nodded silently.

"You have a name?"

She nodded again.

Scout had a feeling this kid was either stunned into silence, or just very shy. A lot of kids were like that. Plus, why would a sweet, little thing like this one even want to talk with some random person they'd never met before. Don't talk to strangers, the golden rule.

"You know how to talk kid?" scout asked, once again, getting a firm nod. She stood firm, patting her hands against her knees and eyeballing at all of the corners of the room. It was pretty awkward, and Scout wasn't much of a fan of awkward silences.

To her surprise, the child soon took a small rock from off of the ground and began scratching at the walls. Scout watched, wondering if there was something seriously wrong with this kid. Scratching on the walls, plucking feathers from dead angels, humming like nothing was wrong… it bugged Scout, but she observed anyway, watching the child's tiny hands hard at work etching what looked like small letters into the wall. It then became clear to her that she was in fact writing her name out for her. Try after try, until one small grey rock left a legible mark. At that, Scout walked over and began to read her sloppy four-year-old handwriting spell out _Sabrina._

"Sabrina? 'S that your name?" Scout asked, getting a firm and rather pleased nod.

"Well, that's a real pretty name. My name's Scout." She said, politely extending a hand, but rather than shaking, Sabrina dove in a tightly hugged her neck. Scout just smiled and decided to hug back after about six seconds. Maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all. She was a sweetheart. She still creeped her out, but that was alright. Kids were scary anyways.

After the short embrace, Sabrina took hold of Scout's hand and curiously looked it over, tilting her head every now and then.

"Wudda you doin?" Scout asked. Of course, she didn't get a reply. She just stared at her dirty hand, as if she was trying to…

"Are you readin' me?" the reluctant teen asked. And Sabrina smiled faintly and hummed contently. She then released her hand and peeked outside and into the streets. Scout had a lot of questions for this kid, but she knew she would never answer, and writing the answers out on the wall would probably take her forever. She was confused, and a little uneasy. Was this the kid she was supposed to find and protect? How could she do that? She'd never taken care of another living thing a day in her life! Hell, Scout could hardly take care of herself as it is! She crawled over to her duffle bag and pulled out a broken up flip-phone; One of Eris's gifts. The note that had come with it said that if she had any questions, to just press 'talk' and she'd be there. So, she did so, flipping the phone open, pressing the small green button, and placing the phone to her ear. She waited.

"Helooooo~?" the giddy voice answered.

"Hey Eris…" Scout said, disappointment and confusion flooding her voice as she spoke.

"What's the matter honey?" Eris asked sweetly.

"I-I found another one… A human, I mean…"  
"Oooh! Fabulous! I had a gut feeling my little baby was still kicking!-"  
"_That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about…" Scout interrupted her and her tone turned aggressive as she started to touch the subject. Eris detected it.

"Go on…"  
"What the hell is your problem lady?" she started. " why would you bring back a sweet little baby girl and just chuck her in a city filled with monsters an' zombies an' shit?! I mean, she probably doesn't even know where she is! She could be traumatized for all I know!"

"Has she told you this?"  
scout paused for a few seconds. "No, she hasn't said a thing to me! I think she's been scared so bad, she's gone silent, ya' know?"

It was quiet between the two for a while, and Eris soon gave Scout an answer she didn't like one bit.

"My reasons for bringing her here are my own."

"WHAT?! SHE'S A FRIGGIN' BABY-"

"She's four years ld. Not a baby."  
"SAME DIFFERENCE!"  
"Don't you hiss at me like that young lady!" Eris shouted angrily into the phone. Sabrina even looked up at Scout, her bright eyes asking if there was anything wrong.

"…I'm sorry Eris, but I-"

"Listen to me. There are a few things you need to know about this child." The Chaos Queen started, sounding almost like a stricken mother. "She is very aware of what's going on, maybe even more so than you or I. she's an arrogant, sweet, well-grounded, intelligent, literate, and independent girl; Don't let her age fool you. She may look like a little mortal, but trust me, her soul is far more ancient."

Scout tried to wrap her brain around this new information, but she still made an attempt to remonstrate the idea of having a child like her run around in a hell-ravaged world with Eris vehemently, to which was of no use on Scout's part.

"I still wanna know just why we're here anyways…" Scout huffed after a long while.

"Well, you two are more powerful than any other human I've ever encountered-"  
"Powerful? But we ain't got no powers or nothin'…"  
"Well, you see, the seals that protected your world so long ago were to be broken when Mankind was strong enough to go on par with Heaven and Hell. Too bad that damn Aboddon came along and was all, 'LOL, I CAN HAS APOCALYPSE!' and screwed you all to death-"

"That doesn't tell me anything!" Scout hissed.

"WELL SHIT KID, IF YOU'D STOP INTERRUPTING ME, I'D TELL YOU!"  
Scout grew silent.

"Jesus-mother-fucking-Christ…" Eris huffed, not sounding anything like an 'ancient, primordial goddess' or something like that.

"You two have proved to be stronger than the rest of humanity. For little Sabrina, it comes as natural as breathing. That's' probably why she's so arrogant. But no matter what, for the both of you-" she paused for a heartbeat. "-it runs in your blood."

The two mortals didn't take much time to figure out that it wasn't safe for them in that small room any longer, so they decided to embark towards the outskirts of town, hoping to find a safer place to stay and think everything through. Eris had warned however, that it had been an entire century and that much had changed.

She wasn't kidding.

After a few days of traveling, the duo was met by heavely wooded forests that looked as if they stretched on forever. Scout was pretty overwhealmed by this. She had plenty of "street smarts", but when it came to nature and things like all of this, she was clueless. Aside her anxieties over penetrating an unexplored forset with high hopes of not getting lost or eaten, Sabrina and Scout made their way into the woods. They had to eventually hide themselves from multiple demonic hordes on their way through, but other that that and the ocassional "walking in circles" predicament, they were all good. They had even discovered that those demons weren't all bad news too. Sabrina had pointed out a series of rather primative roads that had been implicitly paved through the forest and surmised that they had been made by the demons, and they may lead to an exit out of the forest. Scout began tying each orange banner to a specific landmark about half a kilometer away from each other, which she thought was a pretty clever idea.

After a few weeks of tying and marking, tracking and hunting, they soon came to a place they believed to been the heart of the forest. It was a wooded area filled with tall, grey, thickly leaved trees, and in the center of it all in a small clearing, stood a younger looking tree. It looked to be old as well however. It had lush green leaves, pale violet blossoms, some bearing friut. Niether Scout nor Sabrina had ever seen friuts looking like those before. They almost looked like small hearts. There were multitudes of small knotholes withing the tree, and a part of it sloped inwards, looking like a sloppily pitched, wooden hammock.

They wanted to climb it.

Scout told Sabrina to go ahead and climb up the knotholes in the trunck of the tree made her climb almost effortless. She quickly made her way to the slope of the huge tree, she was a bit tired, but as she looked down into the hallow of that slope, blithe tooks its place in her pale features. She waved down to her older companion and motioned her up the tree, Scout quickly complying.

"What is it?" she whispered; she could hardly see over the slope where she stood.

Sabrina hepled to pull her up and pointed down into the hallow. A neatly folded, pale yellow fleece blanket laid within the hallow, along with s few pages of notes (no doubt), a small box decorativley wrapped in a shiny, tan bow, and some bottles of water.

Gifts from Eris.

Scout was the first to lower herself inside the hallow; it was big enough for about four, maybe five people to be squeezed in, and still have just a bit of elbow room. She carefully stood beside the spread and carried Sabrina down with her. The hallow was steep enough to provide protection from intruduers, the abundance of leaves provided some shade, and the fruits looked promising.

Scout had Sabrina hold onto some water bottles, and since her tiny hands were all full, Scout held the small box by the ribbon in her mouth. She then spread the blanket out across the base of the hallow. It didn't look to comfortable to sit on. With another look around, Scout saw that there were more little knotholes on the inside of the tree, and on the far left side of the base, there was a amall crawlspace. She made use of the knotholes, having Sabrina take an individual water bottle and placing them inside, one at a time. The two then sat down and opened their box. It was filled with small little cookies. She handed the box over to the child and picked up the notes, reading them over aloud.

_"You boh have been very good survivors. I didn't think you'd last this long! Just goes to show how clever you humans are, right? I trust these rewards will be satisfactory for the both of you. Also, I planted this tree __just__ for you a hundred years ago. I call it Ecanasha. This tree bears a fruit that is healthful for humans, sweet to angels, and toxic to demons. It blooms all spring and bears fruit in the summer and the fall.__** DO NOT**__ eat the fruits in the winter. They get really poisonous to all living things in the winter, so you may have to hunt during those times. (I highly recommend crows. They're filthy little scavengers, but they're good for you!) I've planted these trees all over the Three Kingdoms. so wherever you go, you'll always have someplace safe to hide out. Anyways, I wish you both the best, if you need anything, call me._

_ -Love you!_

Scout then clarified to Sabrina that all of these trees might have a hiding spot. She also stated that not only could they eat this stuff, but it had many other uses as well. Like the long, wispy leaves could be used to weave and were pretty strong, the blossoms are pretty handy when it came to hygiene uses (when moist, it foams up, kinda like soap), and the hips of the blossoms could be used to heal just about any wound.

"You hungry kid?" Scout asked quietly, seeing that her little friend had been eyeballing the small box of cookies for the longest time now.

After about twenty minutes, Scout looked up through an opening in the leaves where a little sunlight peeked through. The pink, orange, and purple colors of the sky above her told her that it would be night soon. She'd stayed awake for a number of hours, watching over Sabrina as she slept. For the entire time she'd known this child, Scout felt indescribable responsibility for her well-being. She couldn't nod off just yet. However, it wasn't long before she was faced with severe fatigue. The kind of fatigue that forced this small warrior to scorn danger, to lay down her guard, and give in to unconsciousness. She was just about there, but the buzz and vibration of her broken up phone pulled her away from the brink, startling her awake. She pulled it out to answer, being sure not to wake her small companion.

"Hello?" she whispered.

"Ya get my gifts honey?" the familiarly playful voice asked.

"Yeah, I meant to call earlier, but I guess I just forgot…"

"Never mind that dear. I know you're both grateful. I'm just glad you're both safe and sound."

The adolescent child was beginning to have a change of heart for this strange woman. Ever since she'd woken up, Eris was pretty much all she had to survive. And if it weren't for her, she may have never met Olivia. She was pretty helpful and generous when needed, making her almost like some crazy aunt or something like that.

"It's been almost a month-and-a-half since your resurrection. How are you feeling darling?" Eris asked kindly.

"I'm not really sure." She started, shrugging and looking around at the pitch-black tree. "I guess I'm okay…"

"Have you learned anything at all?"

Scout had to think about this. _Did I learn anything?_ _What does she mean?_ It took her a little bit, but a thought soon wormed its way into her hood-rat mind

"I think it has something to do with your gifts. Every gift is given for a reason… We can't choose which ones we get, only what we do with 'em…"  
"How so?" Eris asked, and Scout could hear the sliver of pride in her voice.

"Well, ever since I woke up here, you've done nothin' but screw around with me, help me along, stuff like that. I didn't like it at first, I'll admit to that, but now that you ask me, an' I actually think about it, I realize that all you were doing was to help me out. Plus, I think just wakin up here was a gift all on it's own…" She paused for a breath and gave a short, rather disappointed sigh. "I'm sorry for being such an ass th' last few times ya' called…" Scout apologized, and she could've sworn she felt like she was smiling at her.

"Water under the bridge baby. You're all good… I'm glad you see things that way now. Maybe, this is a chance to reinvent yourself- which by the way you interact with Sabrina, you've already started doing so."

She must've noticed, somehow, that Scout was being very attentive to her child, treating her as if she was her own.

"Maybe I do need to grow up some…" Scout replied solemnly, yawning a bit.

"You're tired baby, get some sleep."

"You gonna call tomarrow?"

"We'll just have to see, okay baby?"

"Okay… Goodnight Eris."

"Night Phoenix."

Scout put her phone back into her front pocket and glanced down at Sabrina's small head. She could hardly make out the silhouette of her raven black hair against the blackness of their surroundings. She then smiled at her, softly kissed the top of her head, held her close and laid down completely. She was asleep within moments, nothing but the sounds of Sabrina's faint mumbling, the crickets playing their symphonic tunes outside of the tree, and the wayward sounds of the forest.


End file.
